1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to printing and, more particularly, to an integrated system for the production of graphic hangtags.
2. Description of Related Art
A hangtag is a strip of material that is suspended from a piece of merchandise in order to provide information about the product to which it is attached. For example, paper, cardboard, leather, plastic, and metal hangtags are commonly used in the fashion retail industry for providing information about the manufacturer, size, price, color, style, and/or stock keeping unit (xe2x80x9cSKUxe2x80x9d) of a particular garment. However, hangtags may also be used in various other industries and/or applications for providing any information about the item to which the tag is attached.
Due to the large amount of information typically contained on each hangtag in a modern inventory control system, and the wide variety of tag styles in use, each hangtag is essentially unique to a single piece of merchandise. Furthermore, since at least some portion of the information on each hangtag is typically printed in a machine-readable xe2x80x9cbarcodexe2x80x9d format, it can be quite difficult to visually confirm that a tag printed with the correct information has been attached to the appropriate merchandise in the field. Consequently, even a minor error in the printing and/or distribution of a hangtag printing order can wreak havoc on the customer""s inventory control system. Therefore, many purchasers of hangtags hold their hangtag suppliers liable for the substantial cost of re-tagging merchandise in the field whenever a hangtag error is discovered. Moreover, improved inventory management techniques have created tighter production and shipping schedules for delivering larger numbers of hangtags to more distribution points than ever before.
FIG. 1 is a schematic flow diagram depicting several phases of a conventional process for the production of hangtags. The first phase in a typical hangtag production process is usually the data management phase 2 when orders are received from customers in a text format via mail, facsimile, electronic mail (xe2x80x9ce-mailxe2x80x9d), or other conventional means. The substantial amount of information contained in these customer orders is often incomplete or inaccurate, and can vary significantly in arrangement and content, even between different facilities of the same customer. The orders may also be subject to revision by the customer at any time during the production process. Consequently, during the data management phase 2, this raw customer order data, and any revisions, must be manually decomposed and rearranged into one or more formats which can be used to efficiently coordinate and accurately complete the various other activities that are required to produce the order.
For example, information from the data management stage 2 may be used during the customer service stage 4 for order verification and tracking, follow-up on job due dates, and periodic reporting of a job""s status to the customer during various later stages of the production process. Similarly, information from the data management phase 2 is used during the job planning phase 6 to order materials, prepare of xe2x80x9cjob pocketsxe2x80x9d and other production instructions, analyze current shop loads, and monitor and schedule activities during later stages in the production process. Activities such as comparing shipping fees and schedules, shipment scheduling, notification and confirmation of shipments, and delivery tracking are then completed during the traffic phase 8.
Information from the job planning phase 6 is used during the pre-press phase 8 to coordinate printing plate preparation, plate inspection, print proofing, and other activities. For example, during the pre-press phase 8, logos, SKUs, and other graphic xe2x80x9cartxe2x80x9d are laid-out on printing plates which are then transferred to presses, or other printing equipment, during the on press phase 12. Once stock sheets have been printed with multiple hangtag images during the on-press phase 12, the printed sheets are then transferred to the post press phase 12 for die-cutting, folding, drilling, cutting, eyeletting, stringing, laminating, labeling, sorting, taping, stitching, shrink-wrapping, and/or other final preparation and packaging. Finally, the finished hangtags are passed to the delivery phase 14 for final inspection, preparation of packing and shipping documents, and distribution to the appropriate courier for timely delivery to the customer based upon information prepared during the traffic phase 8.
In general terms, hangtag production systems are most efficiently operated when the number of plates, and therefore plate changes, and the number of stock sheets used to complete a job is minimized. Conventional hangtag production runs can require from at least five to ten days to complete and also result in a significant percentage of xe2x80x9cmake readyxe2x80x9d wasted sheet stock material.
Such conventional hangtag production methods have been found to have significant drawbacks. For example, the manual posting and analysis of the raw customer order data is an expensive, labor-intensive, and error-prone process, even for a highly qualified staff. The manual preparation and tracking of various production and distribution plans also generally lacks the flexibility to accommodate error checking, or revisions to a customer order, once a production run has been initiated. Even when a product defect is identified early in the process, it can be difficult to trace and correct the cause of that defect using conventional production systems. For these reasons, and others, it can be difficult assure the speedy delivery of a low-cost and high-quality finished product using conventional hangtag production techniques.
The invention disclosed below addresses these and other drawbacks associated with conventional hangtag production methods by providing an integrated hangtag production system including an order analysis system and a hangtag production system. The integrated system allows customer orders to be received in a variety of formats through various electronic communication mediums such as e-mail, modem, direct Internet connection, electronic bulletin board posting, or others. The electronic customer order data is then processed by the order analysis system to identify errors, replace missing and/or incorrect data, and generate various data files and customer order reports. The analyzed order data is then used by the hangtag production system to create additional data files, reports, lists, tickets, and labels for use in preparing, printing, packaging, and distributing the hangtags.
More particularly, the present disclosure relates to an integrated hangtag production system, including an order analysis program for receiving an electronic order file from a customer. The order analysis program includes means for outputting an analyzed customer data file, a box label production file, and a carton label production file; and means for generating documents that are useful for evaluating the integrity of the electronic customer order field. These documents include a Hangtag Summary Report, a Hangtag Order Detail Report, a Hangtag/Division Summary Report, an Error Report, a Zero Quantity Report, a Duplicate Order Report, an Invoice Distributors Report, a Rejected SPO""s Report, a Missing Multi-Size/Currency Report, a C4 Thermal Printing Report, and a Pre Pack Service Bureau Report. The system also includes a hangtag automation program for receiving the analyzed customer data file and outputting an artwork ASCII file, an artwork checking file, a cutting label file, a box checking file, and a packing temp file; and mean for generating additional documents for coordinating the production of hangtags in the customer order. These additional documents may include a Hangtag Order Detail Report, a Detail Packing List, a Plate Layout Detail List, a Plate Layout Summary List, Plate Ticket Images, Cutting Labels, a Plate Analysis Report, Box and Carton Labels, a Box Carton Summary, a Packing Summary, an In-House Box/Carton Summary, a C4 Summary List, a C4 Packing List, a C4 and PP Order Detail, a Shipping Summary List, and Delivery Notes.
The present disclosure also relates to an integrated process for the production of hangtags including the steps of receiving an electronic order file via e-mail from a customer, processing the electronic customer order file with an order analysis computer program, generating documents from the order analysis program that are useful for evaluating the integrity of the customer order file, modifying the electronic customer order file to produce an analyzed customer data file, processing the analyzed customer data file with a hangtag automation program, and generating additional documents from the analyzed customer data file which are useful for coordinating the production of hangtags. The process may also include the step outputting at least one data file which may be used with another computer program for further coordinating the production of hangtags.